“Yes, and I’ll keep it. You’re
a good feller. I wish you was goin’ to
be in New York.”

“I am going to a boarding-school in Connecticut.
The name of the town is Barnton. Will you write
to me, Dick?”

“My writing would look like hens’ tracks,”
said our hero.

“Never mind. I want you to write.
When you write you can tell me how to direct, and
I will send you a letter.”

“I wish you would,” said Dick. “I
wish I was more like you.”

“I hope you will make a much better boy, Dick.
Now we’ll go in to my uncle. He wishes
to see you before you go.”

They went into the reading-room. Dick had wrapped
up his blacking-brush in a newspaper with which Frank
had supplied him, feeling that a guest of the Astor
House should hardly be seen coming out of the hotel
displaying such a professional sign.

“Uncle, Dick’s ready to go,” said
Frank.

“Good-by, my lad,” said Mr. Whitney.
“I hope to hear good accounts of you sometime.
Don’t forget what I have told you. Remember
that your future position depends mainly upon yourself,
and that it will be high or low as you choose to make
it.”

He held out his hand, in which was a five-dollar bill.
Dick shrunk back.

“I don’t like to take it,” he said.
“I haven’t earned it.”

“Perhaps not,” said Mr. Whitney; “but
I give it to you because I remember my own friendless
youth. I hope it may be of service to you.
Sometime when you are a prosperous man, you can repay
it in the form of aid to some poor boy, who is struggling
upward as you are now.”

“I will, sir,” said Dick, manfully.

He no longer refused the money, but took it gratefully,
and, bidding Frank and his uncle good-by, went out
into the street. A feeling of loneliness came
over him as he left the presence of Frank, for whom
he had formed a strong attachment in the few hours
he had known him.

CHAPTER XII

DICK HIRES A ROOM ON MOTT STREET

Going out into the fresh air Dick felt the pangs of
hunger. He accordingly went to a restaurant and
got a substantial supper. Perhaps it was the
new clothes he wore, which made him feel a little
more aristocratic. At all events, instead of patronizing
the cheap restaurant where he usually procured his
meals, he went into the refectory attached to Lovejoy’s
Hotel, where the prices were higher and the company
more select. In his ordinary dress, Dick would
have been excluded, but now he had the appearance of
a very respectable, gentlemanly boy, whose presence
would not discredit any establishment. His orders
were therefore received with attention by the waiter
and in due time a good supper was placed before him.